Rap mogul "Suge" Knight injured in fracas

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (Reuters) - Rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight was treated in the hospital for facial injuries after being injured in a fight at a local hotel, Scottsdale police said on Monday.

Rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, the head of Death Row Records, is shown at the premiere of "Half Past Dead" in Los Angeles in this November 7, 2002 file photograph. REUTERS/Jim Ruymen/Files

Security at the W hotel in the city near Phoenix called police after two groups of guests exchanged “heated words in the VIP area” early on Monday, Scottsdale police said in a news release.

Shortly after police officers arrived at the hotel, they saw a man punch Knight, 43, twice in the head, police said.

Officers used Taser stun guns to break up the fracas and arrested two men — identified as Robert Carnes and Leon Anderson — who were subsequently charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct, the police report added.

Knight, co-founder of the rap label Death Row Records, was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for facial injuries, police said.

Scottsdale police did not immediately return a call seeking further information on Knight’s injuries or condition. The Scottsdale hospital cited in the police report said it had no record of having treated him.

Knight who helped promote such rap stars as Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur in the 1990s, was in the Phoenix area to attend the National Basketball Association All-Star game on Sunday night.

His career has been overshadowed in recent years by run-ins with the law.

In August, he was arrested in Las Vegas on drug and assault charges after he was suspected of punching his girlfriend and pulling a knife on her during an argument outside a strip club.

Knight was jailed in October 1996 for violating his probation on a previous assault case by allegedly kicking a man during a scuffle at a Las Vegas hotel.